Restraining jacket



March 8, 1960 L. B. QUEEN RESTRAINING JACKET Filed April 7, 1958 Rm mw W 8 A m E A 7' TOPNE VS RESTRAINING JACKET Levina B. Queen, San Francisco, Calif.

Application April 7, 1958, Serial No. 726,845

2 Claims. (Cl. 128134) This invention relates to a restraining jacket adapted to be used in hospitals and places where it is necessary or desirable to restrain complete freedom of movement of such persons, yet permit sufficient freedom of moveto preclude discomfort. Thus the use of the words restraining jacket is not intended to mean a jacket of the general type known as a straight jacket, in which the arms of the person are held, or in which a persons legs are bound or in which the person cannot turn from side to side. The present jacket is only intended for use when the person is lying on a bed.

In hospitals, sanitariums, and in homes, many persons are being cared for who, for one reason or another, are liable to cause injury to themselves and to others if left unattended and permitted complete freedom of movement, particularly at night. Of course, the same applies to bedridden persons, who may not leave the bed, but who require some physical restriction.

Many elderly persons, and others, require continuous use of a catheter, particularly during the night to prevent soiling the bed. Such persons consciously or unconsciously, are quite prone to rcmoving the catheter, with the result that frequent and unnecessary changing of bed clothing and mattresses is necessary, at a substantially added expense to the person, to say nothing of the prolonged unsanitary condition that may exist before the situation is discovered by the attendants.

The restraining devices heretofore most commonly employed have either failed to solve the problem, or have in some instances actually created a mentally unbalanced condition in the person restrained, due to excessively harsh restraint.

One of the objects of the present invention is the provision of a restraining jacket, to be used while the patient or person is in bed, that will effectively restrain the person from removing a catheter, where such is employed, or that will prevent the person from leaving the bed or rising, or obtaining access to his or her body by the hands where surgical dressings or drain tubes etc., are on the body in the treatment of injuries or disease, yet which jacket will permit the legs and arms to be freely moved, and that will also permit turning of the body to either side to a sufiicient degree to relieve any tension or fatigue in the body due to a prolonged lying in one position.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a restraining jacket that will permit the movements above mentioned, and which will 'not interfere with the elevating or lowering or tilting of conventional hospital beds having mattress supporting frames that are adjustable to dilferent positions relative to the bedstead.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a restraining jacket adapted to accomplish the objects hereinabove mentioned, and which jacket is economical to make, simple, desirable, and that is readily washed by hand or in any ordinary washing machine, and which jacket is even easier to place on a person than an ordinary sleeveless pull-over sweater, and which does not require a complicated harness-like arrangement.

2,927,581 Patented Mar. 8, 1960 Other advantages will be obvious from the description and drawings.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bed supporting a person on whom a jacket is positioned, and which jacket is secured to the mattress support, the bed itself being a conventional hospital bed of the type having an adjustable mattress support.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the jacket itself separate from the bed, the attaching straps along the edges of the jacket being broken in length. i

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the jacket.

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the jacket with the straps along the edges being broken in length.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 5-5 of Fig. 3, broken in length.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 6-6 of Fig. 3.

In detail, the jacket herein illustrated comprises an v elongated, rectangular front panel 1 (Fig. 1), preferably of cloth of any suitable type. A relatively light weight cotton duck cloth has been found to be suitable, the main consideration being that it cannot be torn by a person, yet is not uncomfortable, and can readily be washed in an ordinary Washing machine, or by hand.

A rectangular rear panel 2 (Fig. 2) is of substantially the same width as panel 1 and may be a longitudinal extension of panel 1, if desired, and which panel 2 is folded along upper end edge of the jacket to opposed relation to one end portion of the panel 1. The side edges of panels 1, 2, may be sewed together along lines 4, and the lower edge 5 of panel 2 terminates in a free edge at a point intermediate the upper and lower ends of panel 1. Said lower edge of panel 1 is indicated at 6.

It is clear, of course, that the rear panel 2 could be a separate panel sewed to the panel 1 along the edge 3, but this would form a seam over the shoulders of the wearer, whereas in the present form the front and rear panels may be in one piece.

The words rear and front are used to designate the panels that are over the front and rear sides, respectively, of the body of a person when thejacket is on such person.

The width of the panels 1, 2, is preferably sufiicient to extend over the lateral sides of a standard sized mattress 7 (Fig. 1) when on a person 8, and such person is lying on a bed, with the mattress positioned on the mattress support, generally designated 9. In conventional hospital beds, such support including the mattress, may be adjusted to different positions by manipulation of cranks 10. These form no part of the present invention, but are mentioned for the reason that, as will later appear, the present invention is applicable to such beds as it is to standard cots or beds. Normally the standard beds and hospital beds for each patient have mattresses that are approximately thirty-eight inches wide, but the present invention is applicable to any width bed or mattress by obvious changes in proportion I to meet any wide variation in size.

At each of the corners of the panel 1 is a pair of straps or tape strips 11 (Figs. 2, 3). One of the ends of each pair are firmly secured to each corner of the panel 1 and the straps 11 at the upper corners mayv alsobe secured to the upper corners of the panel 2, with suitable reinforcement pieces 12 (Fig. 4) to insure against the person 8 tearing the straps from the panels,- Similar pairs of straps 13 are secured to panels 1 7.,-

at the lower corners of panel 2.

The straps of these pairs 11, 13, are adapted to be tied; together around any suitable portions of the mattress; support 9, such as side frame members 14 or the corres-" ponding side rims of conventional spring assembly for the;

"mattress support. The side marginal portions (Fig. 1)

of the panels 1, 2, will, in such case, overlap to some degree or other, the lateral side surfaces of the mattress 7. As seen in Fig. l, the straps 11 at the upper corners between the side edges of the panel 1 and along the upper edge 3 of the panel, and equally spaced from said opening 16 at opposite sides thereof and spaced from edge 3 are arm openings 17. Each of these openings is reinforced around their edges, by a reinforcement strip 18 for the neck opening (Fig. 5) and by reinforcement strip 19 for each arm opening (Fig. 6).

In the case of the neck opening it preferably extends from spaced points along edge 3 (Fig. 3) into the panel 1, and the diameter is such as to permit the head of the person to pass through with but little clearance. The arm openings are substantially seven inches from the neck opening, and this is relatively critical. Each arm opening is of sufiicient diameter to encircle the upper arm of a person at theshoulder with but little clearance. In operation the jacket is slipped over the head of a person 8 with the arms extending through the arm openings 17 and the opening 16 encircles the neck. The juncture between panels 1 and 2 along edge 3 will be adjacent the upper surface of the shoulders at opposite sides of the opening 16.

When the jacket is in this position, the lower edge 5 of panel 2 will be approximately at the waist line of the person and will extend across the back of the latter. The lower edge of panel 1 will be between the knees and feet, leaving the feet clear. The person 8 then lies on the bed on his or her back, or is placed on the bed in that position, and the straps 11, 13 are tied to the mattress support to be in the positions indicated in Fig. l. Preferably straps 11 at the lower corners of the panel are not drawn tightly, but provide sufficient slack to permit the legs to be drawn up. This, of course, may vary with circumstances.

Inasmuch as panels 1, 2, are not connected with each other except along their sides and upper edges, the body of the person is not encased in the manner of a closely fitting jacket, and the person has suflicient freedom to turn the body to one 'side or the other to a degree and to move the body below the neck to one side or the other; nor will the rear panel creep up on the body to cause any discomfort.

Pocket is secured to the panel 1 in a position to be accessible to one of the hands of the person in the jacket, and thispocket is not only useful, but has a substantial psychological effect on patients in relieving them, mentally, from the depressing feeling of restraint that is placed on them by use of ordinary restraining jackets.

With the use ofthis jacket, a person placed under the limited restraint provided thereby, cannot remove a catheter, nor escape from the bed, nor obtain access to surgical dressings, etc., that may be on them. Nor are localized portions of the body subjected to detrimental localized heating or chafing as where relatively tight belts andjackets are worn; yet the person that is under the limited restraint that is imposed, is reasonably comfortable and enjoys far greater comfort than where belts, or arm and leg straps, or relatively closely fitting jackets having restraining straps secured thereto, are employed.

It is manifest that no metal is used in the present construction, which is a great advantage in devices of this character, and the attending nurse or physician can readily obtain access to the body, of the patient by releasing the straps at the lower corners of the jacket, and also the central strap 13, if necessary. The jacket maybe placed in a conventional washing machine and washed with the same facility as ordinary bed sheets.

I claim:

1. A restraining jacket for an adult person, said jacket having a neck opening and arm openings respectively adapted to pass the head and arms of a person therethrough from inside the jacket and including a 'front panel and a rear panel connected thereto respectively adapted to extend over the front and rear sides of the body of such person downwardly from their upper ends at the upper sides of the shoulders of said body of said person when the neck and arms of such person are in said neck and arm. openings respectively, said panels being connected at their said upper ends, said front panel terminating at its lower end in a free edge and being of such a length that said free edge will be positioned at a point spaced between the knees and feet of such body, said arm openings being spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the distance between the arms of a person at the shoulders, and means connected with said front panel for releasably securing the same to a bed on which'a person wearing said jacket is adapted to lie, at points spaced sufiicient distances from said arm openings, to prevent the person in the jacket from releasing said means, said rear panel terminating in a free edge at its lower end at approximately the line of the waist of a person wearing said jacket, said front panel and said rear panel being connected from their upper ends to the lower end of said rear panel along the parts of said jacket adapted to be at opposite lateral sides of the wearer, said front and rear panels being substantially rectangular in outline and said arm openings and neck opening being formed in said front panel, said arm openings being spaced substantial distances inwardly from the connected lateral edges of said front panel and rear panel that are adapted to be at said laterial sides of the wearer, and said means for securing said front panel to said bed being at the upper and lower ends of the said front panel and extending from its lateral edges.

2. A restraining jacket for an adult person comprising: an elongated rectangular front panel having upper and lower edges and lateral side edges, said panel adapted to extend over the front side of the body of such person from the upper side of the shoulders of said person to a point spacedbetween the knees and feet and to extend laterally outwardly substantial distances beyond the lateral sides of such person with said side edges extending longitudinally of such body, said front panel terminating in a free edge at said point, a rear panel having an upper edge connected to the upper edge of said front panel and lateral side edges connected to the lateral side edges of said front panel, said rear panel terminating in a free lower edge adapted to be approximately at the waist of the person in said jacket when the latter is being worn and being free from securement to said front panel along said lower edge, a neck opening and a pair of arm openings formed in said front panel at points adjacent to the upper edge of said front panel, said neck opening extending downwardly from said upper edge and being only of suincient size to pass the head of a person therethrough, and said arm openings each being spaced approximately four inches only from said neck opening and being only of approximately sufficient size to encircle the upper arms of a person at the shoulders, and means along said lateral edges projecting outwardly therefrom for releasably securing said jacket to a bed at points inaccessible for releasing by the hands of such person when said jacket is on a person with the neck and arms of such person in said neck and arm openings respectively and with the upper portion of the body of such person between said front and rear panels.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

